Wayne C. RustadWe Don’t Know When Tomiyasu Will Be Back –Arteta2024’s top 10 climate disasters cost more than 200 billion dollars, charity says
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Police on Tuesday announced the arrest of a key figure in a nationwide cybercrime network. The suspect, identified as Muhammad Anas, a resident of Okara district of Punjab, was arrested for his role in defrauding people through fake WhatsApp, Facebook, and other social media accounts. As per police, Anas was operating a sophisticated scheme that involved creating fake social media profiles using counterfeit SIM cards. He allegedly impersonated prominent personalities to deceive victims and extort money. The arrest was made possible by the Mirpurkhas police's technical team, which utilised advanced technology to trace and detain the suspect in Okara. Anas has confessed to being part of an organised gang involved in fraud and identity theft. The network targeted people in various districts, including Mirpurkhas, by posing as influential figures. Anas also admitted to selling sensitive personal data, such as national identification cards, marriage certificates, travel histories, and other confidential information, for monetary gain. Police have seized hundreds of active SIM cards, fake social media accounts, and a mobile phone used in the illicit operations. The investigation is ongoing, with police aiming to dismantle the entire network. Mirpurkhas SSP Shabbir Ahmed Sethar praised the efforts of the technical team and the raiding party, stating that their dedication was instrumental in arresting the suspect. COMMENTS Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive. For more information, please see our
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A report from the charity on hurricanes, floods, typhoons and storms influenced by climate change warns that the top 10 disasters each cost more than 4 billion US dollars in damage (£3.2 billion). The figures are based mostly on insured losses, so the true costs are likely to be even higher, Christian Aid said, as it called for action to cut greenhouse gas emissions and finance for poor countries to cope with climate change. Politicians who “downplay the urgency of the climate crisis only serve to harm their own people and cause untold suffering around the world”, climate expert Joanna Haigh said. While developed countries feature heavily in the list of costliest weather extremes, as they have higher property values and can afford insurance, the charity also highlighted another 10 disasters which did not rack up such costs but were just as devastating, often hitting poorer countries. Most extreme weather events show “clear fingerprints” of climate change, which is driving more extreme weather events, making them more intense and frequent, experts said. The single most costly event in 2024 was Hurricane Milton, which scientists say was made windier, wetter and more destructive by global warming, and which caused 60 billion US dollars (£48 billion) of damage when it hit the US in October. That is closely followed by Hurricane Helene, which cost 55 billion US dollars (£44 billion) when it hit the US, Mexico and Cuba just two weeks before Milton in late September. The US was hit by so many costly storms throughout the year that even when hurricanes are removed, other storms cost more than 60 billion US dollars in damage, the report said. Three of the costliest 10 climate extremes hit Europe, including the floods from Storm Boris which devastated central European countries in September and deadly flooding in Valencia in October which killed 226 people. In other parts of the world, floods in June and July in China killed 315 people and racked up costs of 15.6 billion US dollars (£12.4 billion), while Typhoon Yagi, which hit south-west Asia in September, killed more than 800 people and cost 12.6 billion dollars (£10 billion). Events which were not among the most costly in financial terms but which have still been devastating include Cyclone Chido which hit Mayotte in December and may have killed more than 1,000 people, Christian Aid said. Meanwhile, heatwaves affected 33 million people in Bangladesh and worsened the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, flooding affected 6.6 million people in West Africa and the worst drought in living memory affected more than 14 million in Zambia, Malawi, Namibia and Zimbabwe, the charity said. Christian Aid chief executive Patrick Watt said: “There is nothing natural about the growing severity and frequency of droughts, floods and storms. “Disasters are being supercharged by decisions to keep burning fossil fuels, and to allow emissions to rise. “And they’re being made worse by the consistent failure to deliver on financial commitments to the poorest and most climate-vulnerable countries. “In 2025 we need to see governments leading, and taking action to accelerate the green transition, reduce emissions, and fund their promises.” Dr Mariam Zachariah, World Weather Attribution researcher who analyses extreme events in near-real time to discern the role of climate change, at Imperial College London, said: “This report is just a snapshot of climate devastation in 2024. “There are many more droughts, heatwaves, wildfires and floods not included that are becoming more frequent and intense. “Most of these disasters show clear fingerprints of climate change. “Extreme weather is clearly causing incredible suffering in all corners of the world. Behind the billion-dollar figures are lost lives and livelihoods.” And Prof Haigh, emeritus professor of atmospheric physics at Imperial College London, said: “The economic impact of these extreme weather events should be a wake-up call. “The good news is that ever-worsening crises doesn’t have to be our long-term future. “The technologies of a clean energy economy exist, but we need leaders to invest in them and roll them out at scale.” The 10 costliest climate disasters of 2024 were: – US storms, December to January, more than 60 billion US dollars; – Hurricane Milton in the US, October 9-13, 60 billion US dollars (£48 billion); – Hurricane Helene in the US, Mexico, Cuba, 55 billion US dollars (£44 billion); – China floods, June 9-July 14, 15.6 billion US dollars (£12.4 billion); – Typhoon Yagi, which hit south-west Asia from September 1 to 9, 12.6 billion US dollars (£10 billion); – Hurricane Beryl, in the US, Mexico and Caribbean islands from July 1-11, 6.7 billion US dollars (£5.3 billion); – Storm Boris in central Europe, September 12-16, 5.2 billion US dollars (£4.1 billion); – Rio Grande do Sul floods in Brazil, April 28-May 3, 5 billion US dollars (£4 billion); – Bavaria floods, Germany, June 1-7, 4.45 billion US dollars (£3.5 billion); – Valencia floods, Spain, on October 29, 4.22 billion US dollars (£3.4 billion).
As enterprise IT environments continue to grow in complexity, organizations are modernizing legacy applications and workloads, amongst other strategic IT initiatives, to address various IT and business challenges—including cost optimization, simplification, time to market, technical debt, scale and more. Along the way, they are adopting new technologies and infrastructure that have to be incorporated into the application development and delivery process. Powerful DevOps and automation tools, as well as serverless infrastructure and managed container solutions, are more accessible than ever. The hard part is knowing how to effectively combine these technologies to achieve tangible results, most notably on established transactional systems like the mainframe. Recent survey data from highlights the significant impacts of IT modernization challenges: 44% of decision-makers report delayed timelines, one-third cite reduced productivity, and 40% note increased operating costs. These hurdles stem, in part, from the growing complexity of application development and deployment processes as the speed of business continues to accelerate. As organizations strive to modernize applications, an effective and automated DevOps toolchain becomes critical. Complete visibility into the end-to-end application development lifecycle is essential for organizations to be successful in their modernization journeys. It’s what enables teams to identify problems and spot misconfigured resources that detract from operational efficiency. Visibility also gives engineers a clearer sense of how new features or processes will impact the larger picture. Once end-to-end visibility exists, leaders can automate their DevOps processes with better precision. Considering the growing number of tasks, processes, and accelerated development timeframes teams must work with, automation has a critical role. Leveraging automation takes much of the burden of managing repetitive, tedious, and time-consuming processes from development teams. When companies get automation right, they can significantly reduce complexity and mitigate risk. They can catch inefficiencies, improve reliability, and accelerate new feature delivery. Automation also helps reduce costs and reallocate engineering time to more innovative endeavors. Those who use automation well can then focus on broader orchestration. Service orchestration and automation platforms (SOAP), as they’re now being referred to, can kick off automations within the DevOps pipeline in one cloud and then initiate another set of activities in a different cloud or on the mainframe. With today’s tools, the possibilities are virtually endless. DevOps orchestration tools minimize human error and remove operational bottlenecks that would otherwise slow the entire IT operation. Combined with total IT visibility and automation, orchestration is what enables the level of coordination needed to upgrade application development and delivery across large, multi-platform IT footprints. Different technology teams can collaborate more effectively and partner on building the ideal end-to-end IT environment to serve the company’s needs. One of the best ways to improve visibility and leverage automation and DevOps orchestration is to invest in a purpose-built solution. Platforms like Rocket Software’s were designed for this exact reason. These solutions give development teams a robust set of capabilities to assess and manage development and deployment, with access to a centralized place for viewing business applications, operating systems, platforms, and DevOps tooling. This view captures mainframe, distributed, and cloud workloads. The tools and technologies exist to elevate IT workload and DevOps automation dramatically. Companies can get more done with fewer resources than ever before by leveraging automation and orchestration. The key is being able to do this across IT footprints that are becoming increasingly complex and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. For those with limited experience in modernizing resources and building cohesive, multi-platform IT environments, working with a company like Rocket Software can accelerate the transition while maximizing return on investment. about how Rocket Software can help you leverage the right tools to optimize the application development lifecycle, end to end.
NoneFamily No.1 fame Kabir Sadanand on Christmas says, "Me and my daughter Kahineer attempting to bake our first cake together" ExclusiveNEW YORK (AP) — A gunman killed UnitedHealthcare’s CEO on Wednesday in a “brazen, targeted attack” outside a Manhattan hotel where the health insurer was holding its investor conference, police said, setting off a massive search for the fleeing assailant hours before the annual Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting nearby. Brian Thompson, 50, was shot around 6:45 a.m. as he walked alone to the New York Hilton Midtown from a nearby hotel, police said. The shooter appeared to be “lying in wait for several minutes” before approaching Thompson from behind and opening fire , New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. Police had not yet established a motive. “Many people passed the suspect, but he appeared to wait for his intended target,” Tisch said, adding that the shooting "does not appear to be a random act of violence.” Surveillance video reviewed by investigators shows someone emerging from behind a parked car, pointing a gun at Thompson’s back, then firing multiple times from several feet away. The gunman continues firing, interrupted by a brief gun jam, as Thompson stumbles forward and falls to the sidewalk. He then walks past Thompson and out of the frame. “From watching the video, it does seem that he’s proficient in the use of firearms as he was able to clear the malfunctions pretty quickly,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said. Thompson was shot at least once in the back and once in the calf, Tisch said. The shooter, who wore a jacket, face mask and large backpack, fled through Midtown on foot before pedaling an electric bike into Central Park a few blocks away, police said. The assailant remained at large Wednesday afternoon, sparking a search that included police drones, helicopters and dogs. “Brian was a highly respected colleague and friend to all who worked with him,” the insurer’s Minnetonka, Minnesota-based parent company, UnitedHealth Group Inc., said in a statement. "We are working closely with the New York Police Department and ask for your patience and understanding during this difficult time.” Police issued a poster showing a surveillance image of the man pointing what appeared to be a gun and another image that appeared to show the same person on a bicycle. Minutes before the shooting, he stopped at a nearby Starbucks, according to additional surveillance photos released by police on Wednesday afternoon. They offered a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction. Thompson’s wife, Paulette Thompson, told NBC News that he told her “there were some people that had been threatening him.” She didn’t have details but suggested the threats may have involved issues with insurance coverage. Eric Werner, the police chief in the Minneapolis suburb where Thompson lived, said his department had not received any reports of threats against the executive. The killing shook a part of New York City that's normally quiet at that hour, happening about four blocks from where tens of thousands of people were set to gather for Wednesday night’s tree lighting. Police promised extra security for the event. The hotel is also a short walk from other tourist sites, including the Museum of Modern Art and Radio City Music Hall, and is often dense with office workers and visitors on weekday mornings. Many security cameras are nearby. “We’re encouraging New Yorkers to go about their daily lives and their daily business but to be alert,” NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said. Investigators recovered several 9 mm shell casings from outside the hotel and a cellphone from the alleyway through which the shooter fled. They were also searching Thompson's hotel room, interviewing his UnitedHealthcare colleagues and reviewing his social media, Kenny said. Police initially said the shooter rode into Central Park on a bicycle from the city’s bike-share program, CitiBike. But a spokesperson for the program’s operator, Lyft, said police officials informed the company Wednesday afternoon that the bike was not from the CitiBike fleet. Health care giant UnitedHealth Group was holding its annual meeting with investors to update Wall Street on the company's direction and expectations for the coming year. The company ended the conference early in the wake of Thompson's death. “I’m afraid that we — some of you may know we’re dealing with a very serious medical situation with one of our team members,” a company official told attendees, according to a transcript. “And as a result, I’m afraid we’re going to have to bring to a close the event today. ... I’m sure you’ll understand.” Thompson, a father of two sons, had been with the company since 2004 and served as CEO for more than three years. UnitedHealthcare is the largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans in the U.S. and manages health insurance coverage for employers and state-and federally funded Medicaid programs. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz posted on the social platform X that the state is “sending our prayers to Brian’s family and the UnitedHealthcare team.” “This is horrifying news and a terrible loss for the business and health care community in Minnesota,” the Democrat wrote. Associated Press writers Tom Murphy in Indianapolis, Steve Karnowski in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Anthony Izaguirre in Albany, New York, contributed to this story.
Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) said that about N120 billion worth of seized counterfeit products were destroyed by its enforcement team in the last six months. As way of preventing sale and distribution of these counterfeit products, the Agency advised Nigerians to ensure they buy only branded food packages and drinks with NAFDAC’s approving seal. It emphasized the need for the public to pay attention to what they eat and to stay safe, especially during the festive period. This was contained in the Christmas and New Year message of the Director General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye to Nigerians. Giving update on the enforcement exercise, the Agency said its men had stormed supermarkets in the big cities across the country such as Lagos, Port Harcourt, Aba, Ibadan, Kaduna, and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, to apprehend manufacturers and merchants of fake drugs and unwholesome foods, while products running into billions of Naira had been confiscated in the last three months of renewed enforcement. She said: “In total, over N120bn worth of seized products were destroyed by the Agency in six months (October-December) in the six geo-political zones and FCT. “The DG however, stated that the Agency would not rest on its oars until the merchants of death are forced out of operation, warning that the Agency would make it hard for them to operate freely and endanger the health of innocent consumers. “The coming year will be tough for the people that prioritize money over the wellbeing of their fellow human beings by compromising quality of medicines and food products in the country.” The DG urged consumers to consistently scrutinize medicines and branded drinks carefully to distinguish genuine products from counterfeits before consumption. “NAFDAC wishes to advise that the members of the public should be vigilant during this yuletide season. We are using this medium to appeal to Nigerians to buy only NAFDAC registered drinks from reputable and licenced retailers, bars and supermarkets. “If the product is being sold well below its normal price, or doesn’t seem to include normal taxes on liquors, then it is probably fake. Check for poor quality packaging, spelling mistakes and unusually shaped bottles. “Healthcare professionals and consumers are advised to report any suspicion of substandard and falsified medicines or food to the nearest NAFDAC office,” she said She specifically instructed that those counterfeiting popular brands of rice should be arrested and their products removed from markets. She reiterated the need for Nigerians to always procure food and drinks in outlets with identifiable addresses and locations to ease the Agency’s track and trace obligation, adding that medicines and packaged food products that do not have NAFDAC number should be avoided. Adeyeye, however, disclosed that officers of the agency’s Investigation and Enforcement Directorate (I&E) would continue the ongoing mop up of substandard and falsified medicines and unwholesome food items from the markets across the country. She said officials of the Agency’s Investigation and Enforcement Directorate (I&E), Pharmacovigilance (PV) Directorate and Post-Marketing Surveillance (PMS) Directorate are jointly on the field mopping up falsified medicines, fake wines and drinks and unwholesome food products that could endanger the health of the people during the festive season. Her words: “On Wednesday, December 11, 2024, the Agency destroyed expired, unregistered drugs worth N11 billion in Ibadan, Oyo State. In November, the Agency seized N300m worth of fake medicines during a raid of Tyre Village, Trade Fair Complex, Lagos State. “Officers of the Agency also busted counterfeit alcohol packaging centres and seized items worth N2billion in Lagos. “This followed reports of illegal revalidation of expired alcoholic beverages at the Trade Fair Complex in Lagos”. It said the team also went to Nasarawa State where they searched the Karu Market situated at the border with FCT and confiscated bags of repackaged expired rice. On the whole it said that products worth about N5 billion were seized during the raid. Also, in Nasarawa State, the Agency sealed a factory and eight shops for packaging and distributing counterfeit rice, valued at approximately ₦5 billion. The operation, conducted on December 19, targeted a facility named Ninjur Ventures on Abacha Road, Karu. It would seem as though these merchants of substandard and fake products are seizing the opportunity of the anticipated high level of consumer purchases and consumption during the yuletide. At Wuse and Garki markets in Abuja last Friday the agency said it confiscated over 1,600 bags of counterfeit rice worth about N5 billion Simultaneously, a total of 150 shops at Eziukwu Market in Aba, a suburb of Abia State, were shut down following an operation by the Agency. As the mop-up operation was going on in the FCT and Nasarawa State, NAFDAC was carrying out a two-day operation in the Aba Market on December 16 and 17, 2024. During the operation, the agency said it uncovered large-scale production and distribution of fake and expired goods including beverages, carbonated drinks, wines, spirits, vegetable oils, and revalidated food items such as noodles, powdered milk, and yoghurt with a market value of N5bn. The Agency further said the enforcement team on Wednesday, December 11, 2024, also destroyed expired, unregistered, counterfeit, and smuggled products valued at ₦10,991,458,374.60. According to NAFDAC, the destroyed items, collected from five states in the Southwest Zone (excluding Lagos) and Kwara State in the North Central Zone were incinerated in Ibadan due to its proximity.